Coolpix P7000, Magnum 80B anamorphic adaptation
Here's a Nikon Coolpix P7000 rigged for shooting anamorphic images using a "Magnum 80B Professional" anamorphic adapter. The 80B was available from The Widescreen Center, in London, several decades ago. It was designed for shooting widescreen super 8mm movies, and included adapters for mounting on various cameras. My Magnum 80B (found at a flea market years ago) had no mounting hardware with it, so was never used... until a week ago when I got the idea of trying to rig it up to work on the Coolpix.
This lens mounts on the Coolpix using a home-made anamorphic "clamp" made from two old removable tripod mounts, several empty filter rings, and a rubber focusing ring cover off a broken lens. Loosening the lock ring on the clamp allows for precise vertical adjustment of the anamorphic component of the 80B.
Focusing is far easier than I had anticipated: Set the 80B focus for the shooting distance, then focus the camera as usual. The camera will search, then more often than not... with a soft chirp, will lock on the focal point. It's fairly easy to estimate subject distances and adjust the 80B to synch-focus with the camera. I thought that autofocus would present a problem, but most recent testing has produced very encouraging results. Image quality isn't bad, but not near as good as what an Iscorama produces. Here's a sample taken earlier in the day:
www.flickr.com/photos/61377404@N08/28164488900/in/datepos...
Unlike an Iscorama, which has front element focusing, this has a small locking knob on the barrel, which when loosened, allows the barrel to slide in and out. The back end of the sliding portion can be aligned with a mark indicating a focus distance of 6 meters. Sliding the barrel all the way back gives a focus distance of 1.2 meters, and all the way forward gives infinity focus. I never was able to get sharp photos using this on my Nikon SLR cameras because I found synchronizing the 80B focus and the Nikon lens focus to be somewhat difficult.
DSC-2613
Coolpix P7000, Magnum 80B anamorphic adaptation
Here's a Nikon Coolpix P7000 rigged for shooting anamorphic images using a "Magnum 80B Professional" anamorphic adapter. The 80B was available from The Widescreen Center, in London, several decades ago. It was designed for shooting widescreen super 8mm movies, and included adapters for mounting on various cameras. My Magnum 80B (found at a flea market years ago) had no mounting hardware with it, so was never used... until a week ago when I got the idea of trying to rig it up to work on the Coolpix.
This lens mounts on the Coolpix using a home-made anamorphic "clamp" made from two old removable tripod mounts, several empty filter rings, and a rubber focusing ring cover off a broken lens. Loosening the lock ring on the clamp allows for precise vertical adjustment of the anamorphic component of the 80B.
Focusing is far easier than I had anticipated: Set the 80B focus for the shooting distance, then focus the camera as usual. The camera will search, then more often than not... with a soft chirp, will lock on the focal point. It's fairly easy to estimate subject distances and adjust the 80B to synch-focus with the camera. I thought that autofocus would present a problem, but most recent testing has produced very encouraging results. Image quality isn't bad, but not near as good as what an Iscorama produces. Here's a sample taken earlier in the day:
www.flickr.com/photos/61377404@N08/28164488900/in/datepos...
Unlike an Iscorama, which has front element focusing, this has a small locking knob on the barrel, which when loosened, allows the barrel to slide in and out. The back end of the sliding portion can be aligned with a mark indicating a focus distance of 6 meters. Sliding the barrel all the way back gives a focus distance of 1.2 meters, and all the way forward gives infinity focus. I never was able to get sharp photos using this on my Nikon SLR cameras because I found synchronizing the 80B focus and the Nikon lens focus to be somewhat difficult.
DSC-2613